Published 19 October 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b4289
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4289

News

College issues guidance on fabricated or induced illness after doctors lose confidence in its diagnosis

Clare Dyer

1 BMJ

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Guidance on fabricated or induced illness (FII), formerly known as Münchausen syndrome by proxy, from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health aims to boost doctors’ confidence in an area of practice that most find fraught with difficulty, and to ensure that they take the right steps to protect children at risk.

It replaces the college’s 2002 guide, after a study last year by the Department of Children, Families, and Schools, which found that only 36% of paediatricians surveyed rated their confidence in dealing with FII cases highly.

Paediatricians who took part cited fears of adverse media publicity and complaints to the General Medical Council if they blamed a parent for fabricating or causing a child’s illness. This followed high profile cases in which paediatricians fell foul of the regulator and were pilloried in the press.

One said, "Roy Meadow’s problems and his and David Southall’s GMC appeals have . . . [Full text of this article]


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